Everything I was taught about preaching in seminary was backward. For example, finishing a sermon by Monday.
Between undergraduate school and seminary, I took eight preaching courses. Each of them was taught by amazing people who loved God and poured themselves into me. For them, I am grateful beyond words.
The problem, looking back, is that the classes focused on the wrong thing: Their goal was to make me a better speaker.
What these professors failed to realize (primarily because they didn’t have to preach every week themselves) was that most senior pastors do not struggle with speaking. They struggle with writing, and since a sermon is nothing more than a written document delivered orally, it is no coincidence that every senior pastor I begin coaching is frustrated with their process for preaching.
Here are a few secrets that writers know that most preachers do not:
Writers Expect to Suffer
People like myself who write for a living in addition to our day jobs know that while we wouldn’t do anything else, writing is painful. There is a price that must be paid. You pay that price in the currency of boredom, isolation and self-doubt. Many “speakers” fear suffering. They’ve heard the applause of the crowd too many times.
Writers Discipline Themselves
As a writer, no-one is holding a gun over your head and making you do what you do. You create your own self-appointed structure and deadlines. You create your own rhythms and routines. I was up today at 3:40 a.m. to write. No normal person would “accidentally” fall into this type of behavior.
Writers Don’t Wait for Inspiration
When I woke up today and sat down at the keyboard, I didn’t do it in response to a flash of inspiration that I was hoping to scribble down before it evaporated into thin air. I got up as a form of discipline, like a Marine. As a badge of honor. As a way of picking up my cross. I knew that if I sat down, inspiration would come. The muse does not speak to those who sleep in.
Writers Don’t Procrastinate
Writers know that what separates them from their smarter and more talented peers who talk a good game but never produce is not their natural gifting, but their ability to see the payoff and attack their craft with a vengeance. Five well-spent hours can produce something that has the potential to change the lives of thousands of people. Where else can you see that kind of impact for such little time?
